SEPANG, Malaysia : March 25, 2012 - Ferrari's Fernando Alonso scored a dramatic victory in the Malaysian
Grand Prix on Sunday when the Spaniard denied Sauber's Sergio Perez a
first Formula One triumph in a race turned on its head by the weather.

The race started in torrential rain and was stopped for 51 minutes after
eight laps but Alonso took charge on its resumption to register a shock
28th career victory in a car that had been outpaced in qualifying in
the opening two rounds.

"A big surprise today the win," championship leader Alonso told
reporters. "Our goal was to score as many points as possible. An
unbelievable result, a great job from the team."

Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton repeated his third place finish from the
opening race of the season in Melbourne last weekend, with Red Bull's
Mark Webber in fourth and 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen fifth in
his Lotus.

Australia race winner Jenson Button and world champion Sebastian Vettel
both suffered mid-race collisions with the HRT of Narain Karthikeyan and
finished outside the points.

Alonso started the race in eighth place but worked his way up to fifth
by the red flag, passed Webber soon after the resumption and capitalised
on a well-timed pit stop to get past Hamilton.

The double world champion overtook Mexico's Perez on the 17th of the
56-lap race and after initially dropping back, the Sauber closed to
within a second of the Ferrari in the late stages and was on course to
secure an unlikely victory.

His dreams of becoming the first Mexican to record a Formula One since
1970 were shattered with five laps remaining, however, when he ran wide
on turn 13 and slipped too far behind Alonso to catch him before the
chequered flag.

"I knew I had to get him soon because in all the high speed corners I
was losing my front tyres running behind him," said Perez, who was
ordered by Ferrari-powered Sauber to "be careful" just before the error.

"Then I ran wide in the quick left hander. I touched the kerb and I went
onto the dirty side of the track. It was completely wet and I lost the
win."

Nevertheless it was Sauber's best result as an independent team as Perez
scored more points in one race than he did in the whole of last season.

Hamilton looked dejected after he slipped from pole to third just like
in Australia but this time, the 2008 world champion was delighted to
just finish in the points.

"I can't complain as I'm on the podium for the second weekend in a row. I
was able to stay out of trouble with the conditions. We did a great
job," he said.

The Mercedes duo of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg flattered to
deceive for a second race in a row, struggling all day in the conditions
to finish 10th and 13th respectively after looking quick in
qualification.